1. This invention relates to a comminuting device and, in particular, to a device for shaving or planning wood, or reducing scrap wood to useful products.
2. Brief Statement of the Prior Art
Various devices have been used for comminuting wood, such as wood scraps, e.g., cut-offs, culls, etc., which are produced by furniture manufacture, building construction, etc. The wood scraps are a desirable source of bedding for animals when they are formed into shavings. Other uses include packing material, potpourri, and soil amendments. The wood scraps can also be used as fuels in commercial furnaces for power generation if comminuted into a usable form.
Various devices have been devised for shredding or shaving wood scraps. Generally, all of these devices suffer from high energy requirements and are subjected to considerable vibration and pounding, resulting in loud noise levels and hazardous operations. Additionally, the prior shaving devices are: difficult to maintain and service, and are not well adapted to handle wood scraps of widely varied shapes and sizes. The comminuting devices currently in use frequently jam, interrupting the operation, and requiring the operator to free the jammed wood scrap. The comminuted products obtained with these devices are solid sticks or pieces of wood, and are not suitable for high value products such as animal bedding or potpourri.